Simple Photoshop Tips for Beginners: How to Use Photoshop

Photoshop is highly sophisticated software and is widely used by professional photographers. That level of sophistication also means that there are a lot of features somewhat complicated that can hinder you from learning Photoshop. But the truth is that you don’t need to know all of them to be good at Photoshop or even spend that much time learning them. Here are 14 Simple Photoshop Tips for Beginners that will help you get the most out of Photoshop in no time:

1. Rotate the view

When retouching the image and you want to use a different angle, you can actually rotate the view instead of rotating the image. To do this, press R on click and hold the Hand Tool icon to find the Rotate View Tool. 

2. Fix Scratch Disk error

Have you seen this error: “Could not initialize Photoshop because the scratch disks are full”?

First things first, what is a scratch disk? A scratch disk is the hard drive space Photoshop uses as virtual memory when there isn’t enough RAM to perform a task. You can assign multiple scratch disks so that Photoshop has more space. 

But when you work with multiple images and layers, your scratch disk becomes pretty full very fast. 

To solve this issue, you can try clearing your Photoshop cache. Often, this will solve your problem. But, if the problem persists, you might need to try few simple photoshop tips for beginners like – deleting temporary files, clearing your disk space, and changing your scratch disk. 

You can check out this link that goes into detail about how to implement each of these solutions and help you troubleshoot the issue.

3. View one layer on its own
   

If you need to view only one layer at a time, you don’t have to uncheck all the others. You can press Alt and click on the eye icon on the layer you want to see. When you’re done, click it again to see all the layers. 

4. Edit multiple text layers at the same time

Need to make the same change on multiple text layers? You don’t have to do it individually. To edit multiple text layers, hold down Command when selecting the text layers from the ‘Layers’ window and then make your changes. 

5. Drag selections from one tab to the other

Need to move a portion of your image into another? Open your files in two different tabs. Use the Move Tool to drag the selection and move it to the tab of the other picture and give it a second to appear in the other tab. 

6. Use paste in place

The default setting on Photoshop when you paste in a new layer is that it goes in the center of the current image or selection. To change this, you can use Shift or Command + V (Control + V on PC).

7. Saves files faster

Photoshop takes a notoriously long time to save. It also does not help if you have a poorly-performing computer. You can speed up the process by doing this:

Preferences -> File handling -> Check Disable Compression of PSD and PSB Files.

Your files will no longer be compressed and be saved much faster. Note: This will mean that they take up more space on your disk, so you should consider a cloud storage option or an external hard drive. 

8. Use the Magnetic Pen

Did you know you can turn the Freeform Pen tool magnetic to make it easier to draw shapes? When the tool is active, just check the Magnetic option.

9. Straighten an image quick
   

Use The Ruler tool, drag out a line across the horizon or a reference point. This should be either horizontally or vertically straight. 

Then do this: Image -> Image Rotation -> Arbitrary

Photoshop will automatically straighten the image. 

10. Remove fringes

When you cut and paste something, you might see that there is a fringe of pixels around the selection. To address this, use the Matting option on the Layer menu. This allows you to access tools that will help you clean up these pixels.

11. Remove haze from landscape photos

Filter -> Camera Raw Filter -> Effects -> Dehaze slider

You can use the slider to reduce the haze effect that is normally seen in sweeping landscape shots.

12. Add realistic blurs

You can add grain and blue at the same time to make your image look more realistic.

To do this, choose an option from Filter -> Blur Gallery List -> Noise tab.

13. Create mockups with dummy text

Often Photoshop is used to create mockups, and you need to display dummy text. This can get tedious if you’re designing a webpage because there are a lot of sections that will have text. To automate this, you can choose Paste Lorem Ipsum from the Type menu. 

14. Quickly cycle between fonts

Not sure which font looks good? You can quickly cycle between fonts like this:

Select text inside a layer and then click on the font section drop-down list. Now use the up and down cursor keys to preview each font. 

Conclusion

There are many more such keyboard shortcuts and courses to help you to know Simple Photoshop Tips for Beginners instead of being overwhelmed by the vast number of tools. The bottom line is that you should not be afraid to experiment with Photoshop and keep learning on the go.